Fans Seem OK With NFL Players Doping

It's been more than a week since the Baltimore Ravens' 34-31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl, and what should have been the biggest story of pro football's postseason seems to have already faded away.

Ray Lewis, 13-time Pro Bowler and two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, according to reports, may have been using a performance-enhancing drug. But the drug in question—a spray that contains the anabolic hormone ICF-1, which can be synthetically made but is also found in the velvet on deer antlers—sounds so ludicrous that few in the sportswriting establishment are taking it seriously. And yet the drug is real, and whether or not it really enhances performance, it's undeniable that if Lewis tried to procure it, his intent was to cheat.

Like so many drugs that are called performance-enhancing, there's little clarity over whether ICF-1 does what some claim it can do: Build muscle. If it does build muscle, it could certainly have helped a player like Lewis, who returned to the Ravens' lineup the first week in January after suffering a severe triceps tear in October that many said would end his season.

But aside from the Sports Illustrated story that broke before the Super Bowl, where is the concern that the use of this and similar drugs might be widespread in football?